A vacuum coating unit with a transport device for transport of substrates in a transport direction is described below.
The described transport device is suitable for moving substrates through a vacuum coating unit in order to coat them, etch them or treat them in vacuum in some other way. Such vacuum coating units typically have lock chambers as well as a vacuum chamber arranged between the lock chambers, which can be divided into compartments with different functions, for example, pump compartments and process compartments.
During transport through the vacuum chamber, the substrates can be rotated in one embodiment of the described transport device around their own respective axis. In another embodiment, the rotation speed of the substrates can be chosen independently of the transport speed of the substrates in the transport direction. Several transport devices of the described type can be arranged one behind the other in the transport direction so that the substrates being transported are transferred without interruption from one transport device to the transport device arranged behind it. Transport devices of the described type can be arranged next to each other, viewed in the transport direction, so that elongated substrates, for example, tubes, can be brought into effective connection with each of the ends of the tubes connecting with one of the two transport devices.
Substrates can be fed in batches into the transport device. Conventional, temperature-sensitive bearings can be dispensed with so that the transport device can also be used for transport of substrates through high-temperature areas of a vacuum coating unit. In another embodiment defects of the transport device can be automatically recognized. An embodiment with substrate holders permits transport of different types of substrates without modification of the transport device.